July 29, 2023 League1 Ontario...Pro Stars FC vs FC London game report (by Rocket Robin)

...................

Result and details of the Saturday July 29, 2023 League1 Ontario Men's Premier Division game between Pro Stars FC
and FC London played at Victoria Park in Brampton at 7:00pm.

ProStars FC (all blue uniforms, white numbers)

.....................1 Jesus Jose Carbajal Flores
4 Paolo Vaiano...20 Jayden Pinheiro...3 Tiago De Jesus...7 Brayden Praticante
13 Mahmoud Mehdi...10 Jordan Webb (cpt)...9 David Velastegui...8 Osman Hussein
................11 Patrick Vani...18 Jacob Cabral

Subs:...2 Jayden Meikle...5 Nolan Karuta...6 John Ntoukas...12 Sabree Doka
...14 Justin Cabral...15 Dominicc Parris...16 Abubakar Hussein...17 Antoni Pyziak
...19 Ronan Black
team officials:...team head coach Sam Medeiros...assistant coaches Frankie Mohammed
and Josef Komlodi...managers Gabriel Pop and Rob Meikle...therapist Antonio Petrolo
Suspended players: Dante Lyte, Zuheib Mohamed, and Keegan Wilson

FC London (white socks and shirts, red shorts and numbers)

........................44 Christian Davakos
4 Brandon Miranjie (cpt)...18 Lewis Dye...3 Gianmaria Fiore...25 Kelsey Egwu
10 Santiago Fonseca...6 James Wilcox...16 Kuhle Bekwayo...7 Nick Ferreira
...............5 Mateo Goldsztein Herrara...15 Mike Snedden

Subs:...8 Alexander Nagy...9 Dante D'Oria...17 Owura Boateng...19 Finn Bansal
...21 Jonathan Lopez
team officials:...team head coach Yiannis Tsalatsidis...manager Michael Silvera...equipment manager Conor Walsh
therapists Emma Elligameot, Lesley Kukoly, and Samantha Clingen
Suspended player: Darlington Ngonidzaishe Murasiranwa (gk)

Game officials:...referee Adam Devenyi...referee's assistants Nicholas Thompson and Angelina Baldino
...fourth official Ryan Rodrigues...(red shirts and socks, black shorts)

First Half:...game starts 7:03pm...ProStars defend north end on hot evening with a blinding sun in the north west
(that's behind the fans in the stands).
game starts with nothing but midfield play with some ProStars offsides.
7 min...PS Webb 35 yard freekick from slight right is headed away on edge of box but play was whistled down anyway.
9 min...Lon Fonseca 18 yard shot between players has goalie dives to left to stop on post and crawls over to smother rebound.
10 min...PS Mehdi low 22 yard shot from right has goalie push wide of post.
10 min...PS Velastegui cornerkick has Lon Egwu head away on left side of box.
12 min...PS Osman Hussein intercepts ball wide on 12 yard line and quick 15 yard roller has retreating defender clear at 1 yard line.
13 min...PS Cabral blasts 20 yard whot well over net and back fence.
London subs start warming up.
15 min...PS Vani run down right and cross along 10 yard line has PS Cabral one-touch shot just over bar.
19 min...Lon Fonseca dribbles down left deking players and crosses over Lon Goldsztein Herrara in box.
Now London has piled up three offside calls.
23 min...PS Cabral high cross from left has play whistled down when Lon Sneddon heads ball away.
24 min...PS Webb 35 yard freekick from slight left has ball land in crowd of players and is cleared from box but
PS Osman Hussein is down with head injury and needs trainer.
Both teams use this time for a water break.
26 min...Lon Miranjie sends through ball pass to Lon Ferreira on edge of box and his cross into box is cleared.
27 min...Lon Fonseca receives short cornerkick on left and crosses over players in box.
28 min...PS goalie is out to top right corner of box to beat Lon Goldsztein Herrera to chipped pass.
28 min...PS goalie catches ball at 15 yards that was over head of Lon player at 20 yards.
30 min...London Mateo Goldsztein Herrara GOAL...Goldzstein Herrara on right sends chip to an LC player on left whose
header is saved by flying goalie Jesus Jose Carbajal Flores in center of goal. The ball is quickly cleared but only
to the 15 yard line to Goldsztein who shoots from slight right to center of open net as goalie was still down before
recovering from his first save.
33 min...Lon Fonseca cornerkick from right has Lon player in crowd of players in box on left head ball off chest of PS defender
and ball is cleared.
34 min...Lon Fonseca picks up injury to mouth at PS 45 yard line.
36 min...Lon Fonseca cornerkick is through ball pass up left that PS goalie runs to gather up beating Lon Ferreira to ball.
37 min...PS Praticante high cross from 20 yards on right is well wide left of net.
38 min...PS Cabral on left crdoss has Lon Dye head ball for cornerkick on left.
39 min...PS Velastegui cornerkick on left has leaping Lon Miranjie head ball away. PS Cabral has low 25 yard shot on far left
rolls wide right of post.
40 min...Lon player's 65 yard chip is caught by goalie.
41 min...PS Vani and Lon goalie are out at 25 yard line and both crash together trying to play long and high punt upfield.
Vani is injured.
45 min...PS Cabral run up left to through ball and and one touch crosses defender clear on near post.
47 min...half ends 7:50pm.

Halftime:...only the PS subs stay outside to warm up then retturn to the dressing room within 5 minutes.

Second Half:...starts 8:06pm. The bright sun is still in the west.
halftime subs:...PS Parris replaces Vani.
...................PS Abubakar Hussein replaces Cabral.
...................PS Ntoukas replaces Vaiano.
...................PS Doka replaces Velastegui.
51 min...PS Mehdi centers pass from right and PS Ntoukas has 18 yard shot in middle blocked by defender.
53 min...PS Hussein 25 yard shot up middle tips off defender and pops over net.
54 min...PS Webb cornerkick from right has ball put over players in box and is cleared out left.
55 min...Lon Miranjie cross from 25 yards along right end line and goalie catch on near post.
56 min...Lon sub...Boateng replaces Sneddon.
57 min...PS Webb sends high cross from far right.
58 min...Pro Stars Abubakar Hussein GOAL...ProStars players had worked ball over from left including Hussein who was
part of the run. Hussein shoots low 15 yarder between players down middle beyond goalie Christian Davakos who
was marooned protecting the left post on run into box.
58 min...PS sub...Black replaces Mehdi before play resumes.
62 min...Lon sub...D'Oria replaces Goldsztein Herrara.
63 min...Lon Boateng low cross along 7 yard line from left has defender in box clear.
64 min...Lon YELLOW card...Egwu earns it for a tackle.
65 min...PS Osman Hussein blasts low 25 yard freekick up middle that hits shin in player wall. Osman Hussein blasts rebound
from same location low and wide left.
67 min...PS YELLOW card...Black earns it for knocking over Lon Bekwayo at PS 45 yards.
69 min...Lon Fonseca cornerkick from right is caught by goalie unopposed.
70 min...the sun is now below the treeline.
71 min...Lon Fiore heads ball back to goalie backwards to prevent PS Black getting to it.
73 min...Lon Boateng on 2 on 0 rush from 40 yard line has Boateng take 22 yard low shot which goalie makes point blank save.
PS Pinheiro was running back to put himself in play.
75 min...PS Webb cornerkick from left is short and recross is cleared on near side of box.
75 min...Lon Boateng chips goalie from 35 yards on right and ball hits right side outside webbing of net.
76 min...PS Abubakar Hussein heads ball back to goalie to stop Lon Bekwayo getting to chipped pass.
78 min...PS YELLOW card...A PS player appears to pick up a card for pushing over a Lon player at PS 40 yards near right sideline.
80 min...Lon Fonseca blasts 40 yarder down middle well over net an back fence.
82 min...PS Webb 25 yard freekick from left is well high and wide right.
82 min...Lon YELLOW card...Dye earns it for complaining about a quick kick.
84 min...PS YELLOW card...Pinheiro earns it for sliding tackle to block Lon Egwu rush at PS 35 yard line.
85 min...Lon Fiore blasts 35 yarder up middle between players well wide right of goal.
86 min...Lon Boateng on 2 on 0 break has pass over to Lon D'Oria who hits 10 yarder off left post and rebound from same place while
off balance shot wide right of open net.
87 min...London Santiago Fonseca GOAL...Fonseca receives pass from LC Brandon Miranjie and takes 20 yard shot from
far right into left corner of net.
89 min...Lon sub...Lopez replaces Ferreira.
90 min...Lon Lopez makes key headed clearance in Lon box to clear PS player's chip.
91 min...PS Parris is checked off ball on rush on left side of box.
92 min...Lon sub...Bansal replaes limping D'Oria.
...........Lon Fonseca also limps off field.
93 min...Lon Egwu makes key headed clearance of cornerkick on left.
93 min...PS Parris has low shot from far left saved by sprawling goalie on near post.
95 min...game ends. There's then a post game dust-up!

Final Score:...Pro Stars FC.......1.........FC London..........2........

Attendance may have reached a high of about 70 by halftime. Pro Stars could be renamed Wanderers based on their home schedule this season. They've played twice at Terry Fox Stadium and so far three times at Victoria Park both just like seasons past. At least those stadiums are in Brampton. Their other home games have been at Ontario Soccer Stadium (Vaughan), Mattamy Sports Park Field in Mississauga (both Field 1 and Field 2) and Paramount Fine Foods Centre also in Mississauga. At least their last two home games of the season are at Victoria Park.

London had a chance to score the winning goal one minute earlier when they were sprung for a 2 on 0 breakaway from the 35 yard line. LC Owura Boateng passed it over to LC Dante D'Oria who from the slight left hit the left post from 10 yards and got the ball back on the deflection and took an off balance shot from the same distance and shot it wide right.

At 73 minutes they had had a similar play when Boateng was on a 2 on 0 and took a low 22 yard shot from the slight right that the sliding goalie stopped point blank at the top corner of the box. It must be said that PS defnder Jayden Pinheiro had retreated and got himself into the play to cut off a possible pass to the open man on the left.

Added time had PS Dominic Parris gets a low shot from the far left that was saved by the sprawling goalie on the near post and the defenders cleared the rebound.

The league website shows that five ProStars earned their first game with the Men's Premier team. Paolo Vaiano, Brayden Praticante, Patick Vani, and Jayden Pinheiro (all 2005s) were starters and Ronan Black (a 2006) was a substitute at 58 minutes. Pro Stars face a fine from the league for not getting their game roster turned in to the game officials 20 minutes before kickoff.

Referee Adam Devenyi gave out four Yellow cards (two to each team) although I was sure I saw a third to a Pro Stars player but I was staring into the sun until about 70 minutes when the sun sank below the treeline at 8:30pm.

Tonight's match featured the fourteenth (Pro Stars) and fifteenth (London) place teams but their trajectories are heading in opposite directions.

Pro Stars loss drops their record to 5 wins, 8 losses, 4 ties for 19 points. They haven't won in ten games. Their last win was back on May 30 when they beat (now) first place Scrosoppi 2-0. Since then they've lost six and tied four. With other games being played today they drop to sixteenth in the standings.

London's win improves their record to 5 wins, 6 losses, 5 ties for 20 points. They are unbeaten in seven games since they lost to Scrosoppi 4-0 for their highest defeat of the year. Since then they have won four and tied three. What is it about Scrosoppi that changes teams' fortunes?

Pro Stars head coach and star defender from 2022 changed to Scrosoppi for this season.

In the race for the the all important division split for 2024 that will keep only the top 12 finishers weighted over the last two seasons, Pro Stars have 51.25 points and hold the ninth spot (The made the playoffs by finishing sixth last year). Burlington with their win last night hold the thirteenth spot with 44.25 points. London have climbed to seventeenth with now 27.50 points but they are doomed because of last year's results (different coach) who guided them with only two wins and a twenty-second place finish. That was last and this year there is one less team competing.

Tonight I had an interview with FC London head coach Yiannis Tsalatsidis and that completes my self imposed mission of interviewing a head coach or assistant coach of all twenty-one teams.

Interview with FC London head coach Yiannis Tsalatsidis (6 minutes, 48 seconds) 
Your thoughts on tonight's game?
What has made such an improvement since the beginning of the season? 
Is your philosophy to start with a strong defence and work your way out?
What does your senior goalie Darlington Murasiranwa bring to the team?
How is the arrangement going this last year with the Toronto FC organiziation?
How have the ownership group reacted (because of last season's record) to be 'doomed' 
   to the second tier next season? 
Do you still have players from western Canada on the team like last year?

Rocket Robin
robin.glover.1958@gmail.com
twitter @RocketRobin01

Pro Stars FC starters